Lately, I’ve been seeing a new variation of the “good things come to those who wait” quote. It crosses out “to those who wait” and adds “work hard and get shit done,” or something like that. I get the sentiment of both. I know people often wait for opportunities in life, when they could just go out and make things happen for themselves. But that doesn’t stop me from really clinging to the truth in the original quote. I believe our culture has lost a lot of the value of waiting. Of being still. Of not rushing into things, and in particular, not spending before you have the money.

Last year, Phil and I decided we were ready to have a baby. So, five minutes after having this life-changing realization, we were fully engaged in making said baby. And work hard at that we did! Every day, if not twice a day! (Phil thinks of those days fondly.) And guess what? We made a baby that very same month! Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. I lost the baby two months later. We were very heartbroken. But we decided to slow things down. To not worry about our own timing, but to let things happen when they should.

At the same time of shifting our baby-making focus, Phil and I decided to get our finances in order. We made a very strict budget for the first time in our five years of marriage, and we pledged to stick to it. Let me tell you, it’s not easy planning meals when you’re only working with a limited amount of cash money each month, and restricting in other ways too, like spending only $40 a month (for the two of us) on going out for dinner and drinks. Sticking to our budget seemed impossible. But what was even worse for me was not making any of those home decor splurges I had easily justified in the past, on account of my normal frugality in such matters. A $150 floor lamp is totally justifiable when I only spent $3 on that wall-hanging, right? Well, not if there isn’t any money for it in our home decor envelope. (We do a cash budget, where we only spend the amount of money we have in each dedicated envelope.) And besides those big splurges, I began to see how much the little bargains were really adding up. My how difficult it was so stop spending! But how rewarding, too! Now we have to wait for the things we want (and sometimes need). And it makes us appreciate them all the more.

So, fast forward about a year. Here we are, not rich, but with some comfortable money in the bank, our credit cards paid off, and a baby in our arms. I can’t help but feel like God has blessed us for our patience. Our patience in starting a family, our patience in decorating our new home, and slowing down to appreciate what we already have.

The icing on our cake? That would have to be the moment we drove by Goodwill on Sunday morning and spotted these shell chairs sitting outside. I had almost dropped a pretty penny on a similar set just a year ago, but waited and stuck to our budget as we had agreed. And, well, here is my reward! $40 for a dining room facelift. I’ll take it! And I’ll still believe that good things really do come to those who wait.

Lockers in a baby’s room? We raised a few eyebrows with this decorating decision, and on the other end of the spectrum, also got a lot of oohs and aahs. So what do we keep inside of Lucy’s lockers anyway? In addition to the storage bins, stacks of receiving blankets, burp cloths, linens, baby puzzels, and wooden toddler toys we keep in locker two and three, we’ve turned the first locker into a diaper haven. When I found out I was pregnant, my cousin asked me if I was interested in buying her cloth diaper collection she used for her only child. Cloth diapers for a fraction of the cost? I would be crazy to say no, especially since we had just moved into a house with a washer and dryer (shazam!). But I was a little intimidated at the thought of all the care that goes into cloth diapering a baby. (And as you can see, started out with regular diapers that we were gifted at Lucy’s baby shower.)

Granted, I’ve only been a mom to a real, live, pooping baby for three weeks now. But I think I’m starting to get the hang of this cloth diapering gig, and it’s not as complicated as I thought! We do have to use special creams to maintain the diaper’s absorbancy, and I’m exploring organic cleaning options as well. I’m still new to this game, so if you have any tips, I’d love to hear them!

Here is a list of the care items that we use for Lucy.

1. Earth’s Best Chlorine Free baby wipes
2. The First Years Gumdrop baby pacifiers
3. Bobby changing pad liners
4. Chan Pie Gnon Pie soft teething toy (squeaks and distracts a fussy baby)
5. Johnson’s Baby wipes container
6. California Baby diaper rash cream (safe to use on cloth diapers)
7. California Baby calendula cream (we use for rashes on belly)
8. Bum Genius newborn diapers
9. Eco Nuts laundry nuts (for washing diapers)
10. Fuzzibunz one size diapers (for when she outgrows the newborns)
11. A happy baby, of course!

Recently I had the pleasure of photographing the work of artist, Rich Pellegrino. I’m always eager for work during the wedding off-season, but it was extra lovely to get to discover a new (to me) artist with funky style and content I can really appreciate. Pop culture and cinematic references? Of course. Count me in!

Rich’s fairy tale series was on display at the Translations Art Gallery here in Canton, Ohio, but if you’re interested in his work, you can check it out here, and purchase prints of originals for your own home!

Rich Pellegrino is not a sponsor of Making Nice in the Midwest, and all opinions are my own.